WHO IS CHIUNE SUGIHARA

Biographical Info

Sugihara was born in 1900 and raised in a middle-class family in the town of Yaotsu-cho. He lived an ordinary life and dreamed of being an English teacher. Due to financial difficulties, he ceased his studies, relaying his efforts to passing an exam that would make him a diplomat, able to study at the government’s expenses. He passed and was accepted as a trainee in Russia.

His potential was recognised in Northern China in 1939, he consequently commenced his career as a diplomat there. During that time, Hitler was rising to power as the Nazi dictator in Germany, endangering the lives of Jewish people.

​Sugihara opened a Japanese consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania, while also simultaneously gathering information about the Soviets. Around the same time, Hitler had intensified his persecution of Jews, leaving them scattered around Europe, including Poland.